Method of cleaning grain.



G. HALLIDAY.

METHOD 0F CLEANING GRAIN.

APPLICATION PILED SEPT. 6. 1910.

1,019,148. Patented Mar.5,1912.

i i f s i s i 9 s E. fo

WITNESSES I V ATTORNEY UNITED sTAWENT OFFICE.

GEORGE HALLIDAY, OF TACOMA, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN l DILL'ARMSTRONG, 0F TACOMA, VVASHIN(5i-TON.`

METHOD 0F CILEANINGr GRAIN.

To all whom tmay concern: p

Be it known that I, GEORGE HALLIDAY, a citizen of the United States, residing` at Tacoma, in t-he county of Pierce and State of Vashington, have invented a new and useful Method of Cleaning Grain, of which `the following is a specification.

This invent-ion has reference to improvements in the method of cleaning grain'and it consists in subjectingthe grain to be cleaned to the action of ground or pulverized grain, preferably of the same character as the grain to be cleaned, the fineness of the ground or pulverized grain depending on the conditions present.

While the invent-ion is not confined to .the cleaning of wheat, the following description will, for convenience, be limitedto the application of the invention to the cleaning of wheat, with the understanding, however, that the use of the word wheat in the description and claims is not a limit-ation of the invention to this specific cereal.f

Wheat is frequently Ycontaminatedy by fungus growths, such as smut,l mold or must, and sometimes by other ldeleterious matters which it is necessarytoremove before the wheat is vground into flour, andV in the case of smut, which is one of the most prevalent of wheat diseases, .the market value of the wheat is largely reducedl by its presence. By the removal of the smut from the wheat its market value is largely increased and it may be either ground into flour or by suitable treatment prepared for storage. It has been proposed to employ sand for the purpose of removing such deleterious matters, but there is a liability of some sand reaching the grinding burs, and being carried into the flour in the form of grit. It has been proposed to use lime for coating the wheat grains to remove the deleterious matters by the strong adherence of such matters to the lime and theremoval thereof from the wheat when the lime iq separated from the wheat grains. There is a liability, however, of more or less of the lime lodging in the crease of the wheat and resisting displacement, so that this lime. is carried to the burs and ultimately into the flour, thereby contaminating the latter. It has also been proposed to mix coarse bran with wheat and pass the mixture through a scouring machine, but in practice it has Specification of Letters Patent.

, wheat.

Patented Mar. 5, 1912.

' Applica/nien filed september e, 1910. serial No. 580,613.

been found that the cleansing is not a perfect cleansing, and the scouring operation is but indifferently erformed due to the cushioning action ol the bran, while the load upon the scouring machine is largely increased. Furthermore, it has been proposed to use the soft and porous products of milling and particularly bran, because of thelarge, rough, soft surfaces it presents and because of its leaflike shape enabling it to penetrate with its cutting edges into the split and groove of the wheat berries t0 remove impurities therefrom. Coarse bran, however, has no more aflinity for smut spores than the wheat berries themselves and in instances Where bran is l employed the rubbing or scouring action of the bran particles is relied upon rather than any superioi` attractiveness for such minute particles as smut spores. These and other like processes of cleaning wheat have objectionable` features, in that there is either a likelihood of some ofl the foreign matters used for cleaning ,the wheat ultimately reaching and contaminating the flour or the cleaning processes fail to wholly remove the deleterious matters, and this is particularly noticeable in the case of such contaminating matters as smut.

By the present invention the cleansing material may be of the same character as the material to be cleaned and consequently should any of the cleansing material remain with the wheatit will of itself-have no contaminating effect upon the ultimate product.

Finely ground or pulverized wheat employed in the present process is the result y of grinding the whole wheat until even the bran portions are reduced to the requisite fineness, the bran particles being practically invisible to the eye as separate particles. This finely ground or comminuted wheat `is of such a character that all its particles are small enough to have a strong affinity for the. spores of smut and for other such minute particles as may contaminate the The bran is finely pulverized and together with the other finely pulverized portions of the wheat produces a cleansing medium of a fine, sharp, free-flowing consistency, and experience has shown that such comminuted wheat is so strongly adherent to the spores of smut as to entirely remove the smut from the wheat, thus cleansing the soy wheat so eectively that it may be sent to the grinding burs and ground into high grade flour, or it may be further treated for storage.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in connection Awith the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, with the understanding, however, that the showing of the draw. ings being in the main diagrammatic is not tov be taken asillustrating the only arr-angeiuent of apparatus which may be used `in the practice of the invention, nor is the invention to be considered asy confined to,= the steps in the exact orderl set forth..

The. drawing is a vertical: section of an assemblage of apparatus which may be uti@ liZeCl in the practice of the invention, the Showing, while. in part structural, beingin the. main diagrammatic.

Referring to the drawings there is shown a bin 1 designed toV contain a supply off the wheat to. be cleaned, and. there is shown an: other bin 2, designedt to. contain a supply of ground or pulverized wheat of a ineness determined. by theA character and condition ot'- the wheat to, be cleaned, some grain requirel ing finely ground grain to. per-tectly clean, it, while other grain requires a muchy coarser granulation of' the cleansinggraint to pro.- duce the desired results. Againm the quarr-y tity of the. ground grain. required for 'the cleansing cfa certain quantity oii the conv-V taininated grain will depend upon; the con;- Clt-.ns- Present and. mustbedetermined thereby. X,Since any desired deg-ree'of :tine-V neSS 0f; the ground: grain, is readily pwd-119ible. and Sinfe. the quantity O the Cleansing grain is readily controllable, the prOQeSS is consequentlyA very elastic and applicable to lall @Orditlls and.; Circumstances.'

The binA 2N discharges; through. funnell 3 intol a. compartment 45, provided with, a slop.- ing bcttom, 5 iny operative. relation, to. which.- at. an appropriate point isa feed1:o1l;6, while the quantity of. ground graint discharged. by the feed roll islreadly controllable by a.. gate 7. in sldng-lelatontothe roller 6, a thread;- edrod. Scarnying the gate, andla, Wingnut 9 applied to said. rodV and. working against a bracket 10 onl one side. ot thecompartment e providing a coni/'enient means.. for control,- lingthe gate. rlfhe compartment 4 dis?. charges by the roller 6 and gate 7, intoa con.- dut 1.1.mrgii1gint0the diS'ChaLvUe-end: Ot a hopper 1,2.co'ming from the lowerlendofthe binl, and the conduit; and..hcpper'discharge together into; a. Casing 13a. constituting the` casing of a mixer, ithin the casing. 1,3 there is a shaftv let axial tc,the casingfand carrying au series of: radial blades. 15% 'while exterior tothese blades is a circular seriesfof; other blades11p6 which maybe tangential. to a Circle. interior: to their inner ends'andron-r centric with the axis of rotation of the shaft 14;

The series of blades 16 may be rotated by any suitable power and the shaft- 14 with it-s blades 15 may, also, be rotated by any suitable powerordinarily the blades 15 rotating more rapidly than the blades 16 so that material entering the mixer will be elevated by the blades 16 and deposited on the blades 15 to. be thrown out of the latter and again elevated by the blades 16, and so on so long as the material remains within the mixer. The material entering the mixer consistsV of the grain to.v be cleaned, coming'- from the bin 1, and anapprop-riate quantity ofgronnd or pulYeriZied grain com-ing from the bin 2;, and the action of the mixer is to freely adthoroughly intermi-nglge and agi-tate the two mater-ials, so that each individu-al grain of Wheat is subjected to` the actionk of the ground grain and any deleterious matters clinging toy the surface of' the wheat grains become adherentto the finely ground particles7 leaving the wheat grains cleanE and free from spores of smut, or must or mold or particles of'other materialsV oit a eontaminat. ing nature. r

After the mixture has been agitated in the mixer fier a sutcient length of time te; bring about the desired result, the mixturereaches a chute 17 discliargingy intca screen cylinder- 1S- mounted in a suitable casing` 119e, the screen being-supported by aY shaft QO'extend ing to the exterior oiithe casing,` and there provided with a pulley 21 to which ai belt mayv be. appliedj for causing the rotationl ot the shajt and thescreenwith. it.. Tliis screen may be. tilted so, that material` discharged thereintowill have a slow: progressive; movement toward the end remote from that ref.

ceiving` the material,v and such, remote end Y cleaned isfiirs. mixedl with ground` or: pul-4 verizedwheat whichZ will adhere more ystrongdy to the matters to,be-remov.ed; from theV wheat, than; theselatt'er adhererto-` the i wheau pinguins,Vv the result.,beingythatv attenanagtation ofx the wheat grains with the.l ground] wheat, they wheat grainsA are. thor oughly cleansedl from,v allX deleterious. mate- 1ials,whichbecome strongly: adherent, tothe finely.v ground wheatk and.` .whenL ther mixture is .passed through a suitable screening apparatus, a separation is readily effected, the cleaned wheat passing to one point of disposal, and the finely ground wheat with the matters removed from the wheat grains being directed to a separate point of disposal.

It is to be understood that the iinely ground or comminuted wheat is the result of a line grinding of the whole Wheat berries, so that not only is the body of the wheat berry reduced to a line powder, but the bran coatings are, also, reduced to a fine powder. In this respect the pulverized or comminuted wheat constituting the cleansing material of the )resent invention differs from any of the orcinary product-s of milling, in that all parts of the wheat berry or kernel are reduced to a pulverulent condition, instead of the wheat berry being subjected to a method of grinding, whereby the bran coat-ing is separated from the body of the wheat in comparatively large flakes and the starch is allowed to escape from the starch cells to ultimately form the product known as flour.

Should it occur that any of the finely ground wheat adheres to the cleansed wheat, the amount so adhering is in no manner harmful to the ultimate product of the wheat, since it is of the same character and may be of the same quality, but even if of inferior quality, the amount which might possibly be carried by the wheat through the grinding process is not sufficient to sensibly affect the final product.

What is, claimed is l. The method of cleaning whole wheat which consists in freely agitating the whole Wheat grains in the presence of a comminuted Whole cereal of which latter all arts of the grains or berries thereof have een reduced to a pulverulent condition.

2. The method of cleaning whole Wheat which consists in mixing together the whole wheat and comminuted whole wheat, of which latter all parts of the grains or berries havebeen reduced to a pulverulent con dition, and freely agitating the mixture.

3. The method of cleaning whole wheat which consists in freely agitating the whole `wheat in the presence of comminuted whole wheat, of which latter all parts of the ains or berries have been reduced to a pufferulent condition, and then separating the cleaned Whole wheat from the comminuted wheat and impurities captured by the latter.

4. The method of cleaning whole wheat which consists in freely agitating a mixture of the whole wheat grains and comminuted whole wheat grains7 all part-s of the latter being reduced to a pulverulent condition in ineness and quant-ity agreeable to the condi- 4tion of the wheat to be cleaned.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aiiixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE HALLIDAY.

Witnesses:

l/VILLIAM SCHLARB, Jr., J. W. ARMSTRONG.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

